Religion in Azerbaijan comprises different religious trends spread among the people and ethnic groups residing in the country. There are several confessions in Azerbaijan.

Approximately 93.4% of the population of Azerbaijan identifies as Muslim of whom most are Shia, although religious affiliation is still nominal in Azerbaijan and percentages for actual practicing adherents are much lower. Nevertheless, according to a 2009 Pew Research Center report, 99.2% of the population is Muslim.[3] The rest of the population adheres to other faiths or are non-religious, although they are not officially represented. Among the Muslim majority, religious observance varies and Muslim identity tends to be based more on culture and ethnicity rather than religion; however, many imams[who?] reported increased attendance at mosques during 2003. The Muslim population is approximately 85% Shi'a and 15% Sunni; differences traditionally have not been defined sharply.[4][5] Most Shias are adherents of orthodox Ithna Ashari school of Shi'a Islam. Other traditional religions or beliefs that are followed by many in the country are the orthodox Sunni Islam, the Armenian Apostolic Church (in Nagorno-Karabakh), the Russian Orthodox Church, and various other Christian denominations. Traditionally villages around Baku and Lenkoran region are considered stronghold of Shi'ism. In some northern regions, populated by Sunni Dagestani (Lezghian) people, the Salafi movement gained great following. Folk Islam is widely practiced but there is little evidence of an organized Sufi movement.

Azerbaijan is a secular state; article 48 of its Constitution ensures the liberty of worship to everyone. Everyone has a right to choose any faith, to adopt any religion or to not practice any religion, to express one's view on the religion and to spread it. According to paragraphs 1-3 of Article 18 of the Constitution the religion acts separately from the government, each religion is equal before the law and the propaganda of religions, abating human personality and contradicting to the principles of humanism is prohibited. At the same time the state system of education is also secular.

According to a recent Gallup Poll Azerbaijan is one of the most irreligious countries in the Muslim world, with about 53% of respondents indicating the importance of religion in their life as little or none.[6] The same poll indicates that only 20% of the respondents has attended on religious services.

As Azerbaijan is a secular country the 1996 law stated that foreigners have freedom of conscience, but denied the right to "carry out religious propaganda", i.e., to preach, under the threat of fines or deportation.[7]

The law of the Republic of Azerbaijan (1992) "On freedom of faith" ensures the right of any human being to determine and express his view on religion and to execute this right.

Bahá'í Faith[edit]

The Bahá'í Faith in Azerbaijan crosses a complex history of regional changes. Before 1850, followers of the predecessor religion Bábism were established in Nakhichevan.[8] By the early 20th century, the Bahá'í community, now centered in Baku, numbered perhaps 2000 individuals and several Bahá'íLocal Spiritual Assemblies[9] had facilitated the favorable attention of local and regional,[8] and international[10] leaders of thought as well as long standing leading figures in the religion.[11] However under Soviet rule the Bahá'í community was almost ended[12] though it was immediately reactivated as perestroika loosened controls on religions[9] and re-elected its own National Spiritual Assembly in 1992.[13] The modern Bahá'í population of Azerbaijan, centered in Baku, may have regained its peak from the oppression of the Soviet period of about 2000 people, today with more than 80% converts[14] although the community in Nakhichevan, where it all began, is still seriously harassed and oppressed.[15]

Azerbaijan also has eleven Molokan communities related to the old rituals of Orthodoxy. These communities do not have any church; their dogmas are fixed in a special book of rituals. They oppose the church hierarchy which has a special power.

Armenian Apostolic Church[edit]

The Armenian Apostolic Church currently has no community outside the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. Before the outbreak of the war, Armenians formed the largest Christian population. The Armenian churches in Azerbaijan remain closed, because of the large outmigration of Armenians and fear of Azerbaijani attacks.[19] During the Nagorno-Karabakh War, despite the constitutional guarantees against religious discrimination, numerous acts of vandalism against the Armenian Apostolic Church have been reported throughout Azerbaijan.[20] At the height of atrocities against the Armenian minorities in Baku in 1990, the Armenian Church of St. Gregory Illuminator in Baku was set on fire,[21] but was restored in 2004 and is not used anymore. The Church of St. Gregory Illuminator is the only remaining Armenian church in Baku, all other Armenian churches were demolished in the 1990s.

Albanian-Udi Church[edit]

Approximately 6,000 of the 10,000 people of the Udi ethnic community live in Azerbaijan including 4,400 people residing in Nij village, Qabala district.[22]

The Udis who resided on the territory of the Caspian sea shore, later accepted Christianity and spread this religion in the Caucasus Albania. The church of Kish (the Kish village of Shaki district)-the first Christian church-was considered the forefather of the Christian churches.[22]

Giovanni Lajolo made the following statements: "We are satisfied with the level of friendly communications between Azerbaijan and Vatican". "Azerbaijan really is a place of merge of religions and cultures. We highly estimate tolerance existing here. And we are very glad with intensive development of Azerbaijan. Vatican is interested in expansion of relations with Azerbaijan, and the purpose of my visit to Baku consists in carrying out of exchange by opinions on the further development of our ties." [3]

Baku's Catholic church was demolished in the Stalin era but a new one, started in September 2005, was opened in summer 2007.

Islam[edit]

After the collapse of the Soviet Union all religious organizations fell into depression and split into pieces while the Religious Organization of Transcaucasia Muslims headed by akhund Allahshukur Pashazade elected the sheykhulislam in 1980 intensified its operation and tried to spread its influence to the entire Caucasus under the name of the Caucasus Muslims Department. The measures to implement these attempts were undertaken at the tenth session of the Caucasus Muslims held in Baku in 1998. The opening of CMD representations in Georgia and Dagestan was one of the significant steps in this field.

The chair of CMD ensures the consequent contacts with Islamic organizations and manages to establish close religious relations with neighbor Muslim countries. To date CMD fulfills the religious needs of the Islamic communities of Azerbaijan, oversees the proper fulfillment of the rituals (in accordance with Sharia), progresses in training religious workers through the Islamic University of Baku, founded in 1991 and is responsible for all religious events occurring in the country. The faculty of theology of the State University of Baku has been training Islam and theology scientists since 1992.

Islam is represented mainly by the Shi'a branch (twelver) and to a much lesser extent by Sunnism in Azerbaijan. The policy of openness recently conducted in the country created conditions for the spread of a number of other trends and Sufi sects in the regions of the country.

Through the years of independence the worshipping of holies strengthened in Azerbaijan and the new holy places were set up along with old ones. Bakhailism created its own assembly and expanded yearly.

The relations of the state-religion are regulated by the State Committee for the Work with Religious Associations of Azerbaijan established by the decree of President Heydar Aliyev in 2001.

More recently, some Azerbaijani youths have been drawn increasingly to Islam.[23] Additionally, some young women in Azerbaijan have decided to dress in Islamic attire despite the risks associated including being rebuked by university personnel for wearing the hijab.[24]

Judaism[edit]

There are three separate communities of Jews (Mountain Jews, Ashkenazi Jews, and Georgian Jews) in Azerbaijan, who total almost 16,000 combined. Of them, 11,000 are Mountain Jews, with concentrations of 6,000 in Baku and 4,000 in Quba, 4,300 are Ashkenazi Jews, most of whom live in Baku and Sumqayit, and 700 are Georgian Jews.

Paganism[edit]

Very little is known about pre-Christian and pre-Islam Azerbaijani mythology; sources are mostly Hellenic historians like Strabo and based on archeological evidence. Strabo names the gods of the sun, the sky, and above all, the moon.

Zoroastrianism[edit]

The history of Zoroastrianism in Azerbaijan goes back to the first millennium BC. Together with the other territories of the Persian Empire, Azerbaijan remained a predominantly Zoroastrian state until the Arab invasion in the 7th century. The name Azerbaijan means the "Land of The Eternal Fire" in Middle Persian, a name that is said to have a direct link with Zoroastrianism.[25] Today the religion, culture, and traditions of Zoroastrianism remains highly respected in Azerbaijan, and Novruz continues to be the main holiday in the country. Zoroastrianism has left a deep mark in the history of Azerbaijan. Traces of the religion are still visible in Ramana, Khinalyg, and Yanar Dag and there are 2,000 Zoroastrians left in the country.[citation needed]

Freedom of religion[edit]

Statue of Azeri female Suffrage called Liberated woman representing a woman tearing off her veil, Baku.

The constitution of Azerbaijan provides for freedom of religion, and the law does not allow religious activities to be interfered with unless they endanger public order. Cases of anti-Semitism in Azerbaijan are rare.

The 2004 U.S. Department of State report on Human Rights in Azerbaijan noted some instances in which freedom of religion was violated, such as interference with the Juma Mosque due to the political activism of its Imam. All religious organizations are required to register with the government, and groups such as Baptists, Jehovah's Witnesses, and members of the Assemblies of God continue to be denied religious registration.[26] The official web site of Jehovah's Witnesses has documented a number of acts of religious intolerance being committed by the Azerbaijan government against members of Jehovah's Witnesses.[27]

As a result of the Nagorno-Karabakh war, mosques in the Nagorno-Karabakh region have been abandoned or destroyed, and Armenian churches in Azerbaijan have likewise been inactive or damaged in the fighting.[28]

The position of the governmental authorities towards Islam is controversial. Men who grow beards more than normal are often viewed with suspicion by the authorities, for fear of the propagation of Wahhabism.[23] Despite the government's denial of the matter, the Azerbaijani police drew criticism from lawyers for infringing the rights of observant Muslims.[23]

However the 2009 Religion Law requires the compulsory re-registration of all religious groups.[29] The overwhelming majority of religious groups that have been granted re-registration are Muslim. Hundreds of others are still waiting to hear from the authorities.[29]

^United States Department of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1992 (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, February 1993), p. 708

^Memorandum from the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights to John D. Evans, Resource Information Center, 13 June 1993, p. 4.

^Implementation of the Helsinki Accords: Human Rights and Democratization in the Newly Independent States of the former Soviet Union" (Washington, DC: U.S. Congress, Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, January 1993), p. 116

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